London, June 24: Thousands of residents were Saturday evacuated from four housing towers as the UK government in the wake of the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze found 27 high-rise residential blocks across Britain unsafe. Residents of 650 flats in four tower blocks on an estate in the Swiss Cottage area of north London were evacuated Friday night by the local Camden Council, following tests ordered in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze June 14, which claimed at least 79 lives and displaced hundreds others.
The estates evacuated were found to have cladding similar to Grenfell Tower, which Scotland Yard confirmed as a factor for the fire spreading rapidly through the 24-storey building after a fridge-freezer burst in one of the flats.
Local councils and housing authorities have been given until Monday to submit cladding samples for these tests to ensure the material used on the exterior of their residential blocks are not made up of similar flammable material as in the massive Grenfell Tower blaze in west London last week.
The Metropolitan Police, which had launched a criminal investigation into the Grenfell Tower tragedy, has said that detectives are keeping open the option of bringing manslaughter charges relating to the Grenfell fire. PTI
